Australian Men’s Foil Team receives ASC funding

The AFF is delighted to announce that we have obtained funding from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) to assist the senior men’s foil team in their preparation for the 2018 World Championships.

The funding of $40,000 allocated by the ASC will be applied to fund the costs of 4 fencers and a coach attending the FIE World Cup in St Petersbourg in early May, the FIE Grand Prix in Shanghai in mid-May and the Asian Championships in Bangkok in June.

This is the first time for many years that the AFF has received dedicated high performance funding from the ASC. It recognises the significant progress made by our men’s foil team over the past twelve months and, in particular, their benchmark results at the 2017 World Championships in Leipzig, Germany.

The latest funding announcement follows the inclusion of the men’s foil program in the expanded AIS Combat Institute, which was announced by the ASC in December 2017. The Combat Institute is intended to bring Australian combat sports together under an aggregated high performance framework, in a similar vein to the highly successful Olympic Winter Institute.

The AFF thanks the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Institute of Sport for their recognition of our high potential men’s foil team. In addition to funding upcoming tours, the AIS team has also assisted in a range of other area, including helping our fencers access direct income support and exploring opportunities to provide sports science expertise. We look forward to working together with the AIS to support our high performance fencers.